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Kim Davis (county clerk)
|birth_place = Morehead, Kentucky, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |residence = Morehead, Kentucky |party = Democratic |spouse = Dwain Allen Wallace (1984-1994)http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/meet-kim-davis#.hqnAblpb8 Joe Davis (1996-2004, 2009-present) Thomas Dale McnIntyre Jr. (2007-2008) |alma_mater = |religion = Apostolic Christian }} Kimberly Jean Bailey Davis (born September 17, 1965) is a Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk who defied a U.S. Federal Court ruling requiring that she issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the Obergefell v. Hodges U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States. Davis filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court seeking to put the lower court's order on hold while she seeks an appeal. The Supreme Court denied the application. Career Davis spent twenty-seven years as deputy clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, under long-time incumbent Jean Bailey, who is also her mother. In 2014, Bailey opted not to run for reelection, and Davis ran as a Democrat. She defeated Republican John Cox in the November 2014 election. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark ruling in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, , in which the Court held in a 5–4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.Obergefell v. Hodges, No. 14-556, slip op. at 22 (U.S. June 26, 2015) ("The Court now holds that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry."). Following the ruling, eighteen counties, all in Alabama, Kentucky, and Texas, continued to not issue licenses to same-sex couples. Eleven in Alabama, and Rowan County, Kentucky decided to stop issuing marriage licenses altogether rather than supply them to same-sex couples. In August 2015, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis refused, on grounds of religion, to follow a court order requiring her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that she must issue the licenses. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the matter, ordering Davis to follow the lower court's ruling. She again refused. Personal life Davis describes herself as an Apostolic Christian and attends church services three times a week. She experienced a "religious awakening" in 2011, following her mother-in-law's (Vondal Lee Bailey Davis) "dying wish" that she attend church. Davis has held Bible study for inmates of the Rowan County jail. Davis has been married four times. The first three marriages ended in divorce in 1994, 2004, and 2008, respectively. She is the mother of twins, who were born five months after her divorce from her first husband in 1994. The biological father of the twins is her third husband, but her second (who is also her current) husband has adopted them. Her current husband, Joe, is supporting her in her stance against same-sex marriage. Election History References External links *Video showing Davis refusing to issue a marriage license to Same-sex couples *Written statement from Kim Davis Category:American Christians Category:County clerks in Kentucky Category:People from Morehead, Kentucky Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:Kentucky Democrats Category:Same-sex marriage in the United States